London 2012 Olympic Countdown – some key dates from a network operator perspective

We are all back and, I assume suitably refreshed from our Easter break – that’s Spring break for readers in the USA. We can now start the official countdown to what is likely to be the most intensive summer of activities that we have seen in the UK, at least as far as I can remember and I’m old. If you haven’t already noticed from previous posts I am very very excited about the Olympics and from now until the games intend to write as many posts as I can manage on the subject.

To set the scene it is worth talking about key dates for the diary. This summer is not just all about the Olympics. There is a lot more going on.

2nd June to 5th June – Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Weekend

Perhaps not one to worry about so much for businesses but ISPs need to be conscious that many more people will want to watch events using their broadband connection. I’ll be playing guitar in a band at a street party round the corner from us. We didn’t get tickets for the big gig outside Buck House.

Friday 8th June – UEFA Euro 2012 kicks off in Warsaw

I’m not too worried about the impact of the football on network capacity. After all England will probably be knocked out in the early stages and everybody will lose interest.

Sunday 1st July – EUFA Euro 2012 Final in Kyiv

See previous comment though disregard if England outperform expectations.

Friday 13th July – Olympic village opens.

Things start to get really exciting as we will see national contingents moving in, if they haven’t already done so around the country.

Friday 27th July – Olympics Opening Ceremony

Other than the historic nature of this event I can’t quite see why anyone would want to sit through it. I read somewhere that the British athletics team would be warming up in Portugal during the opening ceremony. I hope we put on a good show.

The real traffic levels are going to be seen from here on. The BBC has modelled where they expect to see peaks but reality is it will depend on factors such as whether GB has anyone competing in a specific sport. The forecast is for iPlayer traffic to exceed 2x the peaks seen during the Football World Cup.

Sunday 12th August – Closing Ceremony

Party time (or maybe church/thanksgiving!)

Wednesday 29th August – Paraolympics Opening Ceremony

I think we as a nation will continue to watch the Paraolympics online as we will have been conditioned by the Olympics themselves plus a huge amount of press hype because it is being hosted in this country.

Sunday 9th September – Paraolympics closing ceremony

Friday 14th September – Olympic Park Closes

Will there be life after the Olympics?

Notwithstanding decisions on how your business will manage during the Olympics (homeworker policy, TVs in offices etc – of which more in a future post) there are some constraints on what can be done to communications networks that need to be considered.

Project Clearway 2012 has been put together to keep roads moving. The result is that before and during the Olympic and Paralympic Games Transport for London (TfL) are planning an embargo on all street works with no digging allowed on roads or pavements over the entire Olympic Route Network.

– From 1 March 2012 to 30 September 2012 for the Core Route, Venue Route and A501

– From 1 July 2012 to 9 September 2012 for the remainder.

This means that if you are thinking of getting some new network infrastructure for your business and this requires digging up these specific roads you can’t have it during these embargoed times. There will also be a no digging policy on A& B roads within the A406, North Circular and A205, South Circular roads, from 1 July 2012 to 9 September 2012

During Games-time, the embargo on street works will continue although network operators are working with TfL on access in the case of genuine emergencies.

Look out for more Olympic stuff in the days and weeks ahead. I’m also lucky enough to be going to the games of which also more in due course.

As a parting shot I wonder how many of you saw the Guardian article re the protection of Olympic branding. No using the words London 2012! No photos to be uploaded from inside Olympic venues! They are living in cloud cuckoo land. Lets see how it goes.

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We are all back and, I assume suitably refreshed from our Easter break – that’s Spring break for readers in the USA. We can now start the official countdown to what is likely to be the most intensive summer of activities that we have seen in the UK, at least as far as I can […]